Vehicular driving system and driving method thereof

Abstract

Provided are a vehicular driving system and a driving method thereof that can improve production efficiency by driving a vehicle toward a loading point without fail even when the loading point is changed successively due to a movement or the like of a loader, and by keeping driving the vehicle as close as possible to the loader without stopping the vehicle forcedly (without waiting time). A waiting point, which is a point where the vehicle should stand by until permission is given by the loader to the vehicle, is set on a driving path. For example, a switch-back point is set as the waiting point. The vehicle drives from an entry point of a loading site to the waiting point along the driving path, and stands by at the waiting point until the permission is given by the loader. In a case when there is an order to change the loading point when the vehicle is standing by at the waiting point or driving from the entry point to the waiting point, a partial driving path is created, and the vehicle drives from the waiting point to the new loading point along the partial driving path. Meanwhile, in a case when there is no order to change the loading point when the vehicle is standing by at the waiting point and driving from the entry point to the waiting point, the vehicle drives from the waiting point to the original loading point along the driving path.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a vehicular driving system and method thereof, and more particularly, to a vehicular driving system and method thereof for creating a driving path for vehicles along which vehicles are to drive from the entry point of a loading site to the loading point where a loader exists, and for making vehicles drive along the created driving path.BACKGROUND ART[0002]In a wide-area working site such as quarries and mines, in order to avoid accidents of workers due to fatigue caused by performing the carrying task of earth and sand, to achieve manpower saving and to improve productivity by elongating working hours, unmanned vehicular driving systems for putting unmanned dump trucks in operation in place of manned vehicles such as manned off-road dump trucks have been introduced.[0003]Referring to FIG. 7, in a working site where unmanned dump trucks drive, there are areas called a loading site 1 and an earth unloading site 301. These areas are...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0069]According to the first invention and the forth invention, the vehicles 20, 20′ are made stand by at the waiting point 14, and when the there occurs a position change in the loading point 12, the partial driving path 15 is created from the waiting point 14 to the position changed loading point 12′, and the vehicle 20 is made drive along the partial driving path 15. Therefore, even in the case where the loading point 12 changes successively due to a movement or the like of the loader 30, it is possible for the vehicle 20 to drive without fail toward the loading point 12. Since the waiting point 14 is established close to the loading point 12 so that the vehicle 20 can drive up to the waiting point 14 without being stopped, it is possible for the vehicle 20 to keep on driving toward the loader 30 without making the vehicle 20 stopped (without waiting time) as much as possible. Thus, production efficiency can be improved. In the case where plural vehicles 20, 20′ enter the loading site 1 one after another, waiting time becomes shorter, and as a result, the production efficiency will be improved further.

[0070]According to the second invention and the forth invention, when there occurs the position change in the loading point 12, a preceding vehicle 20 drives along the partial driving path 15 from the waiting point 14 to the position changed loading point 12′, whereas a following vehicle 20′ drives along the new driving path 10′ to the waiting point 14′ located at a position different from the position of the waiting point 14 for the preceding vehicle 20. Since the waiting point 14 for the preceding vehicle 20 is made different from the waiting point 14′ for the following vehicle 20′, it is possible to establish the waiting point 14′ for the following vehicle 20′ at a position which is more suitable for the new loading point 12′, in other words, which is closer to the new loading point 12′, and from which it takes shorter time to arrive at the new loading point 12′. In other words, in the case where the same loading point 12′ is to be arrived, when comparison is made between the partial driving path 15 by way of the waiting point 14 and the new driving path (whole driving path) 10′ by way of the waiting point 14′, it turns out that the driving along the new driving path 10′ contributes to better production efficiency on driving such as driving distance is shorter, etc. Such optimality of coarse between the waiting point and the loading point contributes to the productivity, which makes it possible to further improve the production efficiency.

[0071]In addition, the preceding vehicle 20 and the following vehicle 20′ can drive successively in the loading site 1 without interfering with each other, from which also the improvement of the productivity can be expected.

Problems solved by technology

This is because when the vehicle 20 has come sufficiently close to the entry point 11, time required for a computer to perform operations, etc. cannot be secured, which makes it difficult to change the driving paths in a short time.

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